268  Storer’s Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. 
SYNOPSIS: 
CLASS I. OSSEOUS FISHES. 
SKELETON bony, the osseous matter being deposited in fibres. Sutures of 
the cranium distinct, with maxillary or intermaxillary bones, always one, and 
generally both, present. Gill-membrane with rays. 
ORDER I. ACANTHOPTERYGIL SPINE RAYED. 
They are known by the spines which represent the first rays of the dorsal 
fin, or which alone sustain the anterior fin of the back, when they have two. 
Sometimes, instead of an anterior dorsal fin, they have nothing but a few free 
spines. ‘Their anal fin has also some spines instead of the first rays, and there 
is, in general, one to each ventral. 
FAMILY I. PERCID&. 
Comprehends fishes with an elongated body, covered with hard or rough 
scales, in which the operculum or preoperculum, and frequently both, have 
indented or spinous edges, and in which the jaws, the front of the vomer, 
and almost always the palatines, are furnished with teeth. 
GENUS I. PERCA. 
Two dorsal fins distinct, separated ; the rays of the first spinous, those of 
the second, flexible: tongue smooth: teeth in both jaws, in front of the vo- 
mer, and on the palatine bones: preoperculum notched below, serrated on the 
posterior edge: operculum bony, ending in a flattened point directed back- 
wards. Branchiostegous rays. Scales roughened, and not easily detached. 
